Step Aside
by Charlie Waffles
Summary: On October 31, 1981, Lord Voldemort went to the Potters' house in Godric's Hollow to kill Harry Potter. After killing James, Lord Voldemort told Lily to step aside. The first two times he told her she didn't. The third time he told her she did, and it made all the difference.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing. This story is fanfiction. This disclaimer applies to all chapters of this story.

 **Step Aside**

"Take Harry, and run!" James shouted.

Lily ran up the stairs as fast as she could, in the process forgetting about her wand that sat on the sofa downstairs. It was when she was halfway up the stairs that she realized her wand wasn't on her, and she mentally cursed. She kept going, determined to reach her son and get them both to safety. She knew it was unlikely that James would survive the night if he even lasted a few minutes against Voldemort.

She managed to reach Harry just as the house grew silent. James had fought Voldemort but hadn't lasted long against him.

Lily debated on how she was going to get Harry and herself out of the house. Going downstairs wasn't an option, and she needed to figure out something quickly.

The window.

Lily headed towards it and looked down at the ground. It'd be a hard fall. Would it hurt Harry? Would she be able to run after jumping?

She headed back to Harry's crib and looked down at him. Perhaps she could grab James's invisibility cloak and hide them under it. But then Harry started crying. That idea was a no go.

Lily didn't manage to reach a decision before Voldemort entered the room.

She stood in front of the crib with the vain hope that Voldemort wouldn't notice Harry. But of course he did.

"Step aside," Voldemort ordered.

Lily was dumbfounded. He was giving her a choice instead of just killing her. Why?

"Step aside," Voldemort repeated.

"No. Not Harry. Take me. Kill me instead." She knew she was a thorn in his side in the war. Surely he'd want to kill her, even with the prophecy. The prophecy could apply to Frank and Alice's son too after all.

Voldemort looked at Lily as though she was saying the stupidest thing he could imagine. "This is my last warning. Step aside."

It occurred to Lily that Voldemort fully intended to let her live so long as she stepped aside. If she didn't step aside, Voldemort would kill her, and then he would kill Harry. No matter what, Voldemort was going to kill Harry this night. The only question was whether Lily intended to die before him or live to fight Voldemort another day.

She made her choice.

She took a deep breath and sighed with resignation.

She stepped aside and closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to watch.

"Avada Kedavra," Voldemort cast. Even with her eyes shut, Lily saw the brightness of the spell through her eyelids.

The room became silent, no sound to be heard from Harry's crib.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lily didn't know how long she sat on the ground holding the lifeless form of her son in her arms. She couldn't stop replaying the events of the night in her mind. The loss of her husband and son in the span of just a few minutes and Voldemort's malicious glee over her eventual compliance with his order to step aside would haunt her for time to come. What could she have done differently? She couldn't think of anything that would have allowed her son to live. She rather wished she had held off Voldemort while James had taken Harry and ran. Then she would be dead, and James could have been the one to make the decision and live with the guilt.

She shook her head. No. That would have just resulted in all of them being dead. James would have charged at Voldemort and gotten killed in the process, similar to what he actually did. James was never the one to make the most rational decision.

When Sirius had proposed the change in who would be the secret keeper, Lily had opposed it. What did it matter if he was the most obvious choice of secret keeper? Even torture wouldn't be able to force the secret keeper to reveal the location of their home. Such was the nature of the Fidelius Charm.

Peter had always been a cowardly, pessimistic individual, and clearly he had been so to such an extent that he turned against his friends of many years in order to have some security provided in the event of Voldemort and his Death Eaters winning the war. It was basically Pascal's wager brought to life. And to think that Sirius had been suspicious of Remus.

They were played for fools by a traitorous rat. She should have stood her ground more firmly when James agreed to change secret keepers. In the very least, they should have ran that idea past Albus. Lily suspected he would have encouraged them to not change secret keepers. Sirius was loyal to a fault and would have died rather than betray them, and she knew it.

Had Lily died with everyone believing Sirius to still be the Potter family's secret keeper, then Sirius would likely be considered to have conspired in their murder. Considering how the war was going and how quick the aurors threw people into Azkaban with little to no investigation at this time, Sirius could very well have ended up in Azkaban convicted of a crime he didn't commit. In hindsight, the lack of foresight was devastating in ways she likely was only just beginning to realize.

Lily recalled what Voldemort had told her after he'd killed her son. He had revealed that the only reason he offered her _mercy_ was because he wanted to provide a _gift_ for a loyal follower of his. She knew who he'd been referring to: Severus. She knew he became a Death Eater after his time at Hogwarts, especially considering who he spent his time around during his later years at school. And it wasn't too difficult to determine that he'd been the one to overhear the prophecy about Harry and report it to Voldemort.

She never shared her suspicions with James. She didn't want him to lose focus.

Lily knew that Voldemort didn't just happen to think of what would be a fitting gift for one of his followers. The man didn't think like that. Severus had certainly begged him, and Voldemort clearly went along with it in order to cement a follower's loyalty and to amuse himself. That was it.

She would be damned though if she felt or showed any gratitude for Severus. James didn't get any offer of _mercy_ , only her. If he thought he could get closer to her with James out of the picture, he was greatly mistaken. His feelings for her weren't something she reciprocated in the slightest. She would have been far more impressed if he'd requested James to be offered a chance to live too.


End file.
